Patna, June 4: Chief minister Nitish Kumar is unlikely to take any hasty decision over removing Bihar School Examination Board chairman Anand Kishor from his post - as alliance partner RJD has demanded - feel bureaucrats and party insiders familiar to his style of functioning.

Senior serving and retired bureaucrats as well JDU insiders said Nitish would first look into all details before jumping to any conclusion.

They also hinted that despite heading a coalition government, Nitish was the kind of a person who generally did not bow to pressure from coalition partners over posting of senior officials.

"Take the example of Siwan superintendent of police Sourav Kumar Sah," a senior JDU functionary told The Telegraph. "Though one of our coalition partners wanted to shunt the SP out of Siwan, Nitish ji didn't entertain the request. He generally takes such decisions only after getting convinced himself that a particular officer is not doing his/her job properly."

Another senior JDU leader pointed out that even if Nitish takes any decision on taking action against Kishor, it would be purely on administrative grounds and nothing else.

"He is coming back today (Sunday) and would surely discuss the matter with senior officials and study the details himself. Only then would he reach any conclusion," said the leader.

On June 2, RJD spokesperson Ashok Singh had openly demanded action against Kishor after it became clear that the arts topper, Ganesh Kumar, had fudged his age.

Congress leader and education minister Ashok Choudhary had also accused board officials of not adhering to his directive of physical verification of all toppers before releasing the list of successful candidates.

"The chief minister has a mind of his own," a senior bureaucrat said when asked the likely outcome of the pressure coalition partners are putting on Nitish over Kishor. "He might get the issue probed before taking any final call. Don't you remember the boat tragedy in January this year? Though it became clear that the tourism department had failed to make proper arrangements to transport people, the chief minister waited for the outcome of the inquiry report.

"And he didn't make the transfer of the department secretary look like a punishment as a few other officers too were transferred."

A retired bureaucrat, who served as principal secretary in important departments when the NDA ruled the state, said: "At that time, the chief minister never paid heed to requests of BJP leaders while posting key officials. I don't know how things move now when he has new alliance partners, but one thing is for sure: Nitish does not bow to pressure tactics while taking decisions about officials."

Another senior official said: "Except for two or three exceptions, the chief minister has not paid heed to the requests of coalition partners on posting key officials such as DMs, SPs and departmental heads. It would really be interesting to see if Nitish changes his style in the given situation as the Intermediate results concern over a million students and any chief minister would not like to be seen as politically incorrect."

He added that that talks of a shake-up in the state bureaucracy was doing the rounds in the state secretariat for almost a month and Nitish might hasten the process now.